Uhr
Panasonic Toyota Racing
Paul Ricard Test - Day 3
Franck Montagny took over from Ralf Schumacher at Paul Ricard today as the emphasis switched from Monaco testing to the upcoming North American races. The first of these is Montreal on June 10, a track which could not be more different from Monaco’s slow corners and high downforce set-ups. The long straights, chicanes and hairpins of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve demand lower downforce but good braking stability as well as the ability to ride the kerbs well and make quick directional changes. To simulate that, the teams are now using a different layout over a longer 5.255km lap. Franck focused on set-up for Montreal, as well as work on the brakes, but occasional showers interrupted proceedings, as did a late incident at the chicane. With the chequered flag approaching, he slightly damaged the car on a kerb, stopping on the circuit and bringing out the red fla gs. Franck will be behind the wheel again tomorrow for the fourth and final day of testing at Paul Ricard.
Franck Montagny - Chassis TF107-03
Best Lap Time: 1min 29.205s
Position: 6th
Total laps: 67
Total distance: 352.085kms
"Today was quite okay. We didn’t have a lot of mileage to do and so we tried to optimise the test but it was not easy with the wind conditions and the odd shower of rain. We collected some decent information though, working on Montreal set-up and also continuing the step-by-step progress we have made since the start of the year. At the end of the day I had a slight problem and I clipped the outside kerb and stopped. Despite that, I think we made good progress overall."
Gerd Pfeiffer, Test Team Manager
"Today’s track layout was very different from the one we used here for the first two days. We concentrated on trying to find a good basic balance for the heavy braking and quick directional changes we will need in Montreal. Once we had done that we did some brake work in the afternoon. We had a trouble-free day until Franck just clipped the chicane 15 minutes before the end of the day, but there was no significant damage."